Case Number 20653

Santa Sangre

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All Rise...

Judge Gordon Sullivan ran to Home Depot and bought a mental filter after seeing this.

The Charge

Forget everything you have ever seen…

Opening Statement

The typical Hollywood film (which has become, for better or worse, the world
standard) generally features a narrative driven by the desires of one person,
and the film follows that person through some crisis as they are thwarted in
achieving some goal. It's an old form of storytelling, and differs very little
from the form as described by Aristotle centuries ago. Cinema doesn't have to be
that way, despite the ubiquity of Hollywood cinema. No, with varying degrees of
success and fame, directors and artists have been challenging our notions of
what cinema is and could do. Out of the 1970s emerged one such auteur, Alejandro
Jodorowsky. Although he's made films prior to 1970s, he reached a level of
international acclaim for his film El Tope, a kind of hallucinatory
Western that became a cult hit. He followed that film with the even more bizarre
Holy Mountain, and his iconoclastic status was assured. He essentially
disappeared from international view after Holy Mountain, preferring to
write and lecture on everything from comic books to his own brand of shamanic
spiritualism. He emerged again in the public consciousness in 1989, with
Santa Sangre and all the elements that made him a cult icon in the '70s
were back. Despite the film's warm reception, it's had only the spottiest of
home video releases. That is, until now. Severin Films has taken the reins on
this classic bit of weird cinema, fully restoring the print and offering a
boatload of extras to die over fans of the director. It's the kind of release
that showcases what DVD is all about.

Facts of the Case

Told in two narrative strands, Santa Sangre is the story of Fenix
(played by the director's sons, one younger and one older), who is involved with
the circus. In the flashbacks, we see young Fenix's adventures in the circus,
including the philandering of his father and the cult obsessions of his mother.
In the present day, we see Fenix involved in a mental institution and acting as
his mother's arms in a bizarre psychodrama.

The Evidence

On one level, Santa Sangre is a fairly straightforward tale of
revenge. Fenix's mother loses her arms, much to the boy's horror. When he grows
up, he finds the people responsible and kills them. The flashback structure is a
little off-putting at first, but not so convoluted as confusing. This, however,
belies the fact that Santa Sangre is one weird movie. Imagine pretty much
every signifier of "strange" that has been put on celluloid: the
circus, dwarves, the mentally handicapped, weird religious cults, oedipal
psychodrama, and animal slaughter. All these and more are present in
Jodorowsky's weird world.

Hallucinatory is a word that gets thrown around a lot with Jodorowsky's
cinema, and it totally applies. However, I think it's just as useful to think of
his films as lacking a filter. Whatever pops into his head makes its way onto
the screen. We've all probably had our brains make bizarre connections or
private associations, but in Jodorowsky's case that's what makes it into the
film. When someone gets buried, you or I might imagine their soul being taken up
to heaven. Jodorowsky does one better and instead has a bird fly out of a grave.
It's that kind of dreamlike, hallucinatory, associational logic that drives
Santa Sangre. Next to the sheer beauty of some of his images, the chief
pleasure of Santa Sangre might be the ability to watch another mind at
play, totally willing to go to whatever lengths are necessary to evoke a
particular mood or feeling.

Santa Sangre is an important work by a major film artist, and Severin
has pulled out all the stops to bring this film to home video. The 1.85:1
anamorphic transfer is surprisingly free of print damage, skillfully rendering
the vivid colors and shadows of Jodorowsky's world. The film does look a bit
washed out, but I suspect that's more an intentional choice rather than a
deficiency in the transfer. The stereo audio keeps the dialogue audible and the
score well-balanced, though subtitles would still have been appreciated.

The extras, though, are were this release shines. They start on the first
disc with a commentary between journalist Alan Jones and Jodorowsky himself.
Jones is surprisingly patient with the somnambulant-seeming Jodorowsky, and the
pair discusses Jodorwsky's film and life. It can be a little hard to suss out
what Jodorowksy is saying through his thick accent and mumbling delivery. The
first disc also includes eight minutes of deleted scenes with Jodorowsky
commentary as well as the film's Japanese and domestic red-band trailers.

The second disc is a treasure trove. It starts with a 96-minute documentary
that was commissioned by Severin and includes all-new interviews with the cast
and crew. It does a fantastic job showing how the film was created and how it
impacted its participants and the larger world of cinema. Jodorowsky makes
another appearance in "For One Week Only: Alejandro Jodorowsky," a
1990 U.K. television program. Jodorowksy also appears in an onstage Q&A and
a 2003 interview, together totaling about an hour of footage, plus a shorter
interview with composer Simon Boswell running about eight minutes. Boswell is
also responsible for a short film, "Blink Jodorowsky," and a music
video, also included. One thing we learn from the supplements is that Jodorowsky
initially intended to make a film about a Mexican gangster, and "Goyo
Cárdenas Spree Killer" looks at the real-life inspiration for what
would become Santa Sangre. Finally, a short film by Santa Sangre
star Adan Jodorowksy, "Echeck" is included.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

For those unprepared, Santa Sangre might look like the worst pile of
self-indulgent crap, and I'll admit that there's a lot about the film I don't
understand. It obviously requires patience and a willingness to suspend normal
viewing behaviors as Jodorowsky transports the audience to a place outside of
time. That might not be for everyone, especially those looking for a linear,
logically driven plot.

This DVD set is almost a total triumph, and I feel like a heel for even
mentioning this, but darn it if I don't miss subtitles (though there are English
closed captions, which aren't quite the same). First, they'd be great on the
feature because some spots are a little hard to hear (and I just like
subtitles), but they'd be even better on the commentary with Jodorowsky, who can
be difficult to decipher on the best of days due to his soft-spoken ways and
thick accent. The lack of subtitles isn't a deal-breaker, but they are sorely
missed.

Closing Statement

Santa Sangre is a beautifully weird movie that cemented Alejandro
Jodorowsky as a cult auteur. Severin Films has done a spectacular job bringing
this long neglected film to fans with enough extras to satisfy even the most
ardent admirers of Jodorowksy's films. For fans this is a must purchase, and for
anyone curious about the more exotic edges of cinema this disc is at least worth
a rental since it does a fantastic job not only presenting the film but letting
its creator provide valuable context.

The Verdict

I forgot everything I had ever seen, but I won't forget Santa Sangre:
not guilty.